| ZYGOTE IN MY COFFEE.COM |
| ***BIO*** Author of the chapbook, "Stroking Castro's Beard," Patricia Gomes was named the First Place Winner in iVillage's Annual Poetry Slam in 2002 and 2003. She was awarded second Place in 2004. With her short stories and poems included in numerous anthologies, her recent works appear in Literary Potpourri, Shadow Keep Magazine, Dark Krypt, Poetry Super Highway, Unlikely Stories, and Scorched Earth. A member of the Massachusetts State Poetry Society and the Cape Cod Literary Press, her upcoming work will be published in Blue Fifth Review, Wolf Moon Press, and the inaugural issue (September 2005) of Lorraine and James' Global Urban Poetry.
Creator of the Octologue, an eight-line, syllabic form of poetry, Ms. Gomes performs throughout the New England area. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Adagio Verse Quarterly and an interviewer for Lily: An Online Literary Review. Her latest chapbook, Simple Truths and Coughing Things, co-authored with Michael Ladanyi, was published by Little Poem Press and released in March 2005. www.patriciagomes.com |
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| A Lenten Parlor |
| by Patricia Gomes |
| Goofball,
or was it Knucklehead? Some ridiculous name for the orange cat she had when we were all just scabby-knees and popsicle stains. It froze to death under the porch one especially bitter winter. Could there have been more than one brainless orange ca and we just failed to notice? I had a grand ol' time at the wake. Probably shouldn't have, but I did. It was in the reconnecting. Is there anything grayer than a Catholic funeral parlor during Lent? I was warned against garish nail polish, but the young ones paid me no mind. They came outside to smoke with me. Them and three stranges from the wake across the hall. I left with a cocktail of a hundred perfumes on my lips. I had a grand ol' time. Out one hole into the next. Birth, death. We return to a corroded womb, where the maternal warmth we anticipated is nonexistent. I'm betting Hell is cold. I'm betting it's filled with common-senseless cats. My nails match the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the prayer card that found its way into my pocket. |
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| Aug 2005 |
| 45 |